A new life for IVECO?

There’s no doubt it has been a tumultuous year for the truck industry, but more so for new IVECO MD, Michael May. Michael had barely adjusted his office chair to the correct height when the coronavirus hit and he found himself and his not inconsiderable staff working remotely.

Mr May started with Iveco officially in February this year after a long career with Daimler Truck and Bus, where he seemed to have served everywhere from Dealer Principal to Director of Mercedes-Benz Trucks – certainly a solid grounding for anyone wanting to take the reins of a company like IVECO.

We were fortunate enough to have a long chat with the affable Mr May recently to see how he’s faring in his new role. And although this year has been tough in more ways than one, he seems to have weathered the storm well and is looking forward to the challenges ahead.

“Although I’m basically working from home, I’ve been getting into the office a bit; the production facility keeps going even under COVID, and that’s one of the bonuses,” said Mr May. “It’s an essential service so we keep running and keep building trucks.

“I started in February and by March we were all out of the office, so it was a bit interesting coming into the new business. But I got around a little bit and I know a lot of the network which is good, but it was about finding the time to get to know the people within our business.

“I did manage to get up to Queensland where we have a factory-owned store but I didn’t get over to New Zealand, which was unfortunate.

“Italy was early with COVID as was Spain and a lot of our source material [for the trucks we build here in Dandenong] comes from there. So I was watching from February and getting on the phone, and it gave us an opportunity to prepare a little bit better.

“I’m reporting directly to Italy now, so it’s a bit of a change of structure for us here locally.

“We’ve split off from CNH [Case New Holland] and we now answer straight in to Italy instead of into Sydney. Having that direct link is exciting.

“Similarly, our parts and aftersales guys are now reporting straight to me rather than to CNH, and we’ve now got a dedicated aftersales director.

“Traditionally IVECO has had a very strong aftersales and parts support logic and it’s probably taken a bit of a hit being part of the larger group and not getting the focus it needed.

“But now those teams are reporting directly to me and we can fully focus on aftersales as well as our sales and streamlining our offerings,” said Mr May.

So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the products and where they fit for the future of IVECO.

The big question about the Daily is when are we getting the 2020 Daily 4x4? We ran a story on the latest incarnation of the Daily 4x4 back in October of 2019 and it has been the most-read story on trucksales.com.au for the year to date.

People are passionate about the Daily 4x4 and it was one of the big questions we wanted to ask Mr May: When is the new Daily coming? Is the 2020 Daily quickly becoming the 2021 Daily?

“The start of next year,” Mr May tod us. “It’s just coming now, and we’ve got it in some mining applications already.

“The Daily 4x4 becomes a very emotional topic,” said Mr May. “It’s an emotional vehicle.

“It will be in dealerships early in the year. It will be up to the latest standards in 4x4 and 4x2 both in cab/chassis and van,” Mr May said, without further elaboration.

As we’ve reported, the new Daily will have independent front suspension, while an eight-speed automatic gearbox is also on offer.

The eight-speed auto will mean that the Daily 4x4 will only have one low-range reduction as opposed to the two low-range speeds now standard.

“We’re looking to get [the Daily] a bit more focussed and refining what we offer to make it more simple and easier for the customer to pick the models and features that they want or need.

“At the moment, the vans and cab/chassis are going like hotcakes for us. With all this door-to-door stuff, people can’t get enough of them. Even the rental companies are really pushing hard for these products. We’re going to run dry of those products ahead of our planned time, and we’re pushing to bring the new model in as soon as we can.

“One of our biggest customers [for the Daily] is in the motorhome space with cab/chassis, and the motorhome business took a hit [with COVID] especially here in Melbourne, so the big builders here in Melbourne are affected but they’ll bounce back. We’ve taken the biggest order for motorhomes in the last months that we’ve probably ever taken so there’s a big surge, because people have to spend their money somewhere – they’re not going on overseas trips, so the motorhome guys are super positive.”

Mr May told us that the Eurocargo has been travelling well and is particularly strong in the fire-fighting areas.

We understand that the CFA has recently taken delivery of its 100th Eurocargo, although IVECO is remaining fairly tight-lipped about numbers.

“The Eurocargo is really starting to get some real traction. With the firies and entities such as councils especially, it’s going really well.

“We’ve focussed our business in those lines [Daily and Erocargo]. We want to do more work with the customers to define the product; we don’t want a thousand variations. We want to get a good critical mass, because then the whole support of that product, the training of the technicians, the holding of the parts supply and delivery around the whole of Australia and New Zealand becomes a whole lot easier.

At the launch back in October 2018, IVECO said it had big plans for the X-Way.

IVECO told us that the Stralis X-Way project marks the culmination of a four-year engineering program between IVECO Australia and IVECO’s global engineering centre, resulting in models that combine extensive local development with the latest technology from Europe.

And this is something that’s not gone unnoticed by the new MD. He’s looking to get the X-Way onto fleet buyers’ shopping lists.

The X-Way range comprises three 6x4 prime mover models as well as 6x4 and 8x4 rigids.

The prime movers feature GVMs of 25 tonnes and GCMs of 45 tonnes while the rigids range between 25 and 30 tonnes GVM and 40 to 45 tonnes GCM (higher GCMs are available across all models on application).

”We’re doing a bit of work at the moment to see if we can bring that product onto the market in B-double configuration,” said Mr May.

“X-Way is just starting to find its feet. It’s been a bit of a hit-and-miss story and I’m looking at ways to make it really clear again to our customers and to the broader trucking community that this is a good product with European quality with all of the mod cons.

“We just need to get it going a bit better.

“We’ve been trialing them with different customers and getting some really good feedback on things such as fuel, safety and performance.”

“I reckon it just needs a bit of a push. It seems, like the mid-range Eurocargo, we’ve been keeping it a bit of a secret.

“I’m not sure why because they’re really good products.

“We’ve got to go a bit beyond just saying ‘There’s a great truck’ and standing back. We’ve got to make sure we’re offering a complete solution, be it through maintenance and repair programs, finance, whatever. People are buying a package solution now.

“We’ve got so many skilled people here and it can give us the edge. It’s great to have the engineers right here, that people can talk to and help customers with their needs. We’ve got all the ingredients, we’ve just got to make that link.

“We need to bang the drum a bit more, let people know what we’ve got, and when we hit the market, the market will come,” Mr May said.

Of course we couldn’t leave our chat with the new MD without touching on the ACCO, which has been a mainstay of the IVECO range for decades. First introduced 1961, the ACCO has become a long-time favourite of the Australian and New Zealand trucking industries, being used in all manner of applications from light rigid to prime mover work and everything in between.

Late last year the last of the Euro 5 ACCOs rolled off the line to be replaced by the Euro 6 version.

Ever increasing emission and safety requirements meant that with the major changes introduced by 2014, the current model had reached its full development potential.

Amazingly, over its lifetime, the ACCO has undergone over 4300 specification changes.

“We did a large run of Euro 5 before we started to produce the Euro 6 because of their popularity and we’ve still got a few left,” said Mr May.

“Euro 6 has been getting really good traction predominantly in the waste industry where it’s really popular and we’re getting really good feedback from the customers. But it’s still a transition for our customers and for the bodybuilders.

“The feedback we’re getting on fuel is a lot better, on noise, it’s a safer truck too so the feedback’s good. And the numbers this year are going to be good.

“There are still a few Euro 5s still available but they’re getting snapped up by the existing customers who love them. But once they’re gone, it’ll be all the Euro 6 model.

“But they’re all taking that forward step especially in the councils where they want to make sure they’ve got the latest and greatest in terms of safety and efficiency," Mr May concluded.

So going forward it looks like IVECO is in good hands. The products are good, there are new trucks and vans coming and the new vehicles that are being built are being well accepted.

The new Managing Director is full of enthusiasm. He has the runs on the board in terms of working in the local industry and he certainly has the runs on the board from his years at Daimler Trucks Australia.

We’ll be watching the future sales charts with enthusiasm, as we’re sure the numbers guys back at head office in Italy will be too.